OUR AMERICA: Dissent

- By Anonymous

The exercise of power and the capacity for its abuse takes many forms. It is not confined to Donald Trump.

In the current moment, it is frighteningly evident that individuals poised to hold positions of power within our government will likely exercise that power abusively. But, in our grief over the election and its aftermath, we should also maintain a constant watchfulness for abuses of power on the part of those holding any and all positions of institutional authority, whether within a corporation, a university, or a department.

Rather than positioning ourselves as victims – and turning to someone else in a position of institutional authority to “rescue” us – we should assert our right to dissent against all abuses of power.

Now more than ever, we must create space for dissent.

If constructing the future and settling everything for all times are not our affair, it is all the more clear what we have to accomplish at present: I am referring to ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being afraid of the results it arrives at and in the sense of being just as little afraid of conflict with the powers that be. . .

- Karl Marx, 1843

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